No Angludet in 2017

The owners of Château Angludet have revealed there will be no 2017 vintage from the estate due to the frost damage.

Speaking to the drinks business Charles Sichel of négociant Maison Sichel and the family that owns the Margaux property, revealed that the frost damage last April was so severe it had effectively wiped out the potential crop.

“In a normal harvest between the first and second wines we would get 1,600 hectolitres,” he said. “We picked what few grapes there were and filled one vat of 150hl an those were mostly second generation grapes too [from a second budding after the frosts] so not the best.”

The news will come as a blow to followers of the château which is widely regarded as offering excellent, smart Bordeaux for that most elusive of terms, ‘good value’.

It also means Angludet joins a growing list of properties that have announced they will not be making any wine in 2017 including Climens and Fieuzal.

Sichel, whose family are also part-owners of Château Palmer, said that the third growth estate had been rather more fortunate and escaped “relatively unscathed”.

He continued: “Some parts of Alter Ego were hit, 10ha were badly hit but we are hoping it [the final wine] will be ok even if there is slightly less for Alter Ego.”

The pattern of frost damage at Angludet and Palmer, while differing enormously, was very much the case across the region he went on and something noted by Sauternes’ producers too.

‘The frost pattern was just so bizarre,” he said. “Gruaud Larose was not hit at all and then Lagrange was decimated – though it’s a big vineyard so they’re still going to make some wine.

It’s the same at Du Tertre and Giscours, which are neighbours of Angludet, which were hardly hit either; they suffered a little bit of damage, nothing major.”